asked, “What did Wilhelmina tell you—about all this, I mean—however did she explain it?”
“Well!” sighed Thomas. “She said the most outrageous thing I have ever heard uttered from a rational human being. She told me in no uncertain terms that she was a traveller from another dimension who had come to enlist my aid in helping her locate a very valuable artefact which was believed to be buried somewhere in Egypt.”
“Wilhelmina can be very . . . forceful.”
“I thought her demented, of course,” replied the physician. “In my professional practice, I occasionally encounter people suffering from various forms of delusion and insanity. However, those were merely her introductory remarks. I offered her refreshment and sought to keep her talking so that I might observe her better and improve my diagnosis of her particular hysteria.” He smiled suddenly. “That was where she captured me, the dear girl.”
“Literally?”
“The more she talked—lucidly, calmly, with animation, intelligence, and fervour, but entirely lacking any of the more explicit signs of mental aberration—the more fascinated I became. In short, I allowed her to spin me such a splendidly impossible tale that I confess I was wholly taken in by the audacity of her creative invention.”
Thomas raised a finger in his own defence. “Not that I did not argue—I put forth numerous and vigorous objections, which she could not entirely answer. Neither did she back down from her assertions. In the end we made a bargain. In exchange for my help, she would provide me with undeniable proof that her claims were genuine.”
Thomas Young glanced at Kit, and his voice softened with awe. “I thought it all a splendid lark. I never dreamed what she said might have even the slightest smidgen of veracity in it. Just think—the ability to travel at will through time and space.” His gaze lost focus for a moment as he contemplated anew the enormity of the implications of the new reality that had broken in upon him. “You must excuse me,” he said. “I still find it all but impossible to credit.”
“So do I,” Kit assured him, “and I’ve made the leap a few times.”
“You must teach me this skill at the earliest opportunity. I do insist upon it.”
“Well, why not?” said Kit. “But getting back to Wilhelmina and the bargain you made with her, why did you go along with it if you believed it was some sort of mental illness?”
“Because, my dear fellow, Miss Wilhelmina made me give her my word as a gentleman that, providing her assertions proved true, I would help you.” He chuckled to himself. “She can be a most persuasive and determined young lady.”
“The proof—the coin, the clipping, and the pages from the book—that convinced you,” observed Kit.
“Not forgetting the postage stamp,” added Thomas. “Yes, I am convinced. You see, King George sits on the throne of England at the moment. Princess Victoria is a mere child, and not even in the direct line of succession. Yet, apparently, she is to become queen with her image on every coin. Extraordinary!
“But the book is the thing that removes all doubt. That book has been in my mind for quite some time. As president of the Royal Society, I’ve been collecting my papers and organising them, of course, for the last several years. But I have not submitted them to be published as they are nowhere near ready yet, and more remains to be done.”
They reached the end of the path, turned around, and started back the other way. The afternoon had dwindled, and the heat of the day was fading somewhat. As they walked together, Kit felt he had found a true friend, a person of integrity, one whom he could trust. He was still uncertain about how much to reveal about the problem of Burleigh and his thugs, but that was more out of a genuine concern than any wish to obfuscate or deceive. Having just secured a new and trustworthy ally, he did not want to risk scaring him away.
So they strolled in companionable silence, watching the shadows lengthen on the path as evening hastened on.
Thomas, pensive and brooding over the earthshaking revelations of the day, at last confessed, “Just when I begin to imagine I have achieved some pinnacle of understanding, reached the summit of the highest climb . . . I scramble the last few feet to the top only to see that I have merely gained a foothold on a narrow plateau and that entire new mountain ranges rise before me,